


Carry That Weight

by dezolis



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21880102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dezolis/pseuds/dezolis
Summary: Noctis has always known he'd have to wear the Ring of Lucii someday.  He never expected someday would come so soon.Good thing he has his friends to help him through it.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43
Collections: FFXV Holiday Gift Exchange 2019





	Carry That Weight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ActivelyWeird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActivelyWeird/gifts).



_To shun one’s cross is to make it heavier_ \- Henri-Frederic Amiel

_I get by with a little help from my friends_ \- Lennon/McCartney

It was a nothing night. They’d gone to Gladio’s house because he had the biggest TV. Gladio had picked the movie, Prompto had ordered the pizza, Noctis had whined about the pizza having olives and green peppers, everybody had made fun of Noctis’s whining, and then they’d settled onto the massive sofa, with drinks and pizza (and napkins per Ignis’s demands) in hand to veg out.

Gladio was a wild card on movie night. He could go for anything from stupid action to highbrow shown-at-fancy-schmancy-festivals crap to the occasional romcom if he fancied the lead actress. Tonight, he’d gone with stupid, albeit period piece stupid so Noct and Prompto could riff in bad accents while Ignis pointed out the historical inaccuracies. When the talking got too loud and threatened to drown out the exciting adventures of The Pirates of Accordo, Gladio hurled balled up napkins at the most egregious offenders. Between his arm strength and the amount of grease the napkins had absorbed, the make-shift ammo had some heft to it, which spurred Prompto and Noctis to retaliate. Gladio mostly batted Noct’s away while Prompto was able to whip a few past his defenses, including a shot that hit right between the eyes.

“Oh, look, it’s the gratuitous sex scene,” Ignis pointed out to deescalate the hostilities. 

It didn’t work. Even as he gave props to Prompto’s aim, Gladio gathered up the napkin balls strewn across the floor in preparation for Round 2. Noct and Prompto rushed to get the rest because winning the great greasy napkin battle was that important. Prompto tried to do a quick spin maneuver to snag a stray napkin ball at Ignis’s feet but ended up tripping instead. His futile attempt to catch himself by grabbing the edge of the coffee table ended up sending the drinks on it flying and pushed the pizza box into a glass bowl that hit the ground with a clunk.

“Could you not destroy my family’s house?” Galdio asked.

Noct helped Prompto get to his feet, grumbling about Gladio starting it the whole time. “And we aren’t destroying the house. We just put a chip in some ugly bowl.”

“A bowl that has been an Amicitia family heirloom for hundreds of years.”

“Seriously, dude?” Prompto said. His was pale as a sheet, his freckles popping against his skin like flecks of ink. 

“My dad is going to be so pissed. That bowl was given to the family to honor a fallen Shield’s sacrifice to protect his king.”

Noct picked up the bowl and turned it over in his hands. He smelled bullshit in Gladio’s vaunted bowl history but couldn’t tell for sure.

Prompto was freaking out. Foolish was the man who angered Clarus Amicitia and it had been his dumb ass that had caused the chip. “Should we try to hide it or should I fess up? Like, isn’t that supposed to impress people? ‘You told the truth; I respect that’ kind of thing?”

“His dad’s not here,” Noctis said. “He’s out with my dad on some super secret mission or something.”

“So dying of terror is not imminent?”

“You’ll be fine, Prompto,” Ignis answered. “You will not have to die in the name of a tacky, I’m not even sure that’s glass, bowl.”

“Priceless Amicitia family heirloom!” Gladio tossed a napkin ball at Ignis.

The correction wasn’t worth it. Prompto’s aim was amazing; Ignis’s was impeccable. The napkin was caught and flung back right into Gladio’s gaping mouth. He spit it out and made a big show of choking that Noctis thought was faker than his story about the bowl. 

“Need a drink there, big guy?” Noct asked. “I could ring some soda out of the rug.”

Gladio had a better idea for soaking up the spilled soda. He would use Noct’s favorite shirt for a rag, all while it was still on Noct’s back. The two made of game of circling around the sofa, Noct taunting Gladio to come get him and Gladio promising him he’d be sorry he said that.

Ignis declared the both them morons and began to clean up. Prompto lent him a hand, using up the remaining napkins and worrying if there’d be a stain. Ignis told him not to worry and summoned a bottle a cleaner and a roll of paper towels from the armiger.

“You put cleaning supplies into my armiger?”

Ignis pointed to the floor, moved his finger around the room in a circle to settle on all his friends and then threw his arms up in a gesture that asked ‘are you really questioning my judgment on that?’

“Yeah, okay,” Noct conceded. Fine with continuing to provoke Gladio but not good at all with annoying Ignis any further, he called a truce and started collecting dead soda cups. With everybody working, they had the room back to normal in short order, the telltale chip and damp spots on the rug the only signs they’d done anything wrong.

Prompto was even back to his usual paleness and normal breathing. “We’re good,” he said, “the rug’s gonna dry and that chip was totally there when we got here.”

“Gentleman, if I could have a word with the prince.”

Noct tried not to laugh at how quickly Prompto blanched and looked like he was ready to puke again. He couldn’t blame him. Cor Leonis was an imposing man and the tone he’d used to address them suggested little tolerance for the idiocy they’d been up to. Then again, Cor always sounded like that.

“It’s okay, Cor,” Noctis said. “Whatever it is, you can share it with these guys.”

Cor considered it, taking a long look at Gladio as he did, before he gave a solemn nod and agreed to tell them the reason why he was here.

There’d been reports of unrest in a northern region where Nifs incursion weren’t uncommon. Lucian troops had been sent there as reassurance that the crown had the people’s backs. They’d been greeted with the suspicion that their real mission was to quell any resistance. Wanting to stop a rebellion before it had a chance to start and spread, Regis had put in a quick appearance. It had gone well until a substantial Nif raid had just so happened to coincide with Regis’s departure. The king and his troops had beaten them back, which had won them the approval of the territory but had taken a toll on Regis’s strength. His was currently in stasis, a state of coma-like rest Lucian kings entered when they’d used too much of their magic. His shield, Gladio’s father, had taken an injury. Both men were safe and headed towards Insomnia.

Cor clearly didn’t think the strike was coincidental. “Don’t know how those Nif bastards lucked into catching Regis outside of the Crown City. They seem to be damned good at that. Too damned good. That’s not relevant now.

“Prince Noctis,” Cor continued, “your father will likely be out of action for a few days. With the Nifs possibly still lurking and for our people, we can’t afford to show any weakness. That means maintaining the wall. When the king returns, we’ll need you, my prince, to take the Ring of the Lucii from him and use it in his stead.”

It was Noct’s turn to pale and feel anxious. The Ring was his birthright and his duty but he’d figured it would be decades before he’d called to wear it. Decades had turned into less than two hours. Two hours to brace himself to take up the mantle of Insomnia’s protector. Two hours to deal with having to take his father’s place. Two hours to prepare to wield a magic ring infamous for draining its wielders.

It had been a nothing night. Suddenly, it was the most portentous night of Noctis’s life.

***

The five of them arrived at the Citadel, Cor leading them down to the underground garage where Regis’s entourage would arrive. Between taking terse phone calls over his headset, the marshal filled them in on the information he had. Noctis tried to focus to get a better picture of what had gone down but his nerves kept distracting him. Question after question circled through his head with a distinct lack of answers.

He’d never had a head for politics, not on his own. That’s what Ignis was for. He paid attention. He summarized things. He explained what it all meant bit by bit. Noct listened mostly, or that’s what he would have claimed before tonight. Somehow the people had been so close to the verge of an uprising that his father had felt the need to leave Insomnia to see to it and Noct had been oblivious to the whole thing. That’s what a country needed - a prince with no clue what the hell was going on.

And now that clueless prince was supposed to protect that country with a magic he didn’t really understand and honestly, was a little afraid of. He’d been a little kid the first time his father had told him about the Ring of the Lucii, how it gathered its power and what it felt like to use it. Noct had been stuck on the whole absorbing the power of its wearer thing.

_”It’s like a vampire ring?”_

_“A bit,” Regis chuckled and ran a reassuring hand through his son’s hair. “It’s slow and steady so you don’t feel it. Well, except for the initial bite.”_

_“Bite?” Noctis asked with eyes wide._

_“That’s what vampires do, isn’t it?” Regis feigned a chomp at Noct’s neck only to grab him at the waist to tickle his sides._

All worries of scary vampires rings had dissolved into peals of laughter back then, but over the years, Noct had reexamined that initial explanation and translated the kiddy talk into what the Ring actually did. It didn’t drink blood. It went with draining the user’s life force. It may have been a painless, tiny amount at a time but there was a reason the birth and death dates accompanying all the portraits in the hall of kings seldom went beyond sixty years apart.

He also knew what the Ring would do to those it found unworthy. They burned. And while the tales stated it was quick, they spoke of immeasurable pain as well.

That wasn’t supposed to be a worry for Noctis. He was of the Lucis Caelum line. Worthiness was accorded to him automatically. The why of that eluded him. Surely the worth of a person came from what they did, not what blood they had. And Noct...He goofed off with his friends. He kept an apartment that he was pretty sure would be classified as a biohazard if Ignis didn’t come around and clean it for him. He worked part time at a sushi restaurant and spent his paycheck on video games. 

Worthy was big hero stuff. Putting your life on the line to help people. His dad, Gladio’s dad, the Glaives, the Crownsguard. Worthy was working your butt off. Ignis always studying something, always preparing, always taking care of everybody. Worthy was determination. Prompto’s never ending amiability and his efforts to make everybody else happy.

If his bloodline wasn’t a be worthy for free card, he was screwed.

Noct kept that fear to himself. Step one of being worthy had to be not being a whiny baby about it. He’d figure out step two when he got to it. Hopefully. Maybe.

Prompto switched between asking if Noctis and Gladio were okay and nervous declarations that their fathers had to be okay too. Noct bobbed his along to the assurances while Gladio didn’t need them.

“Damn straight,” Gladio said. “No weak ass MT is gonna take my old man out.”

Confidence - that was a worthy thing too, right?

A medical crew arrived and got set up just in time for the arrival of a trio of armored vehicles. Cor instructed Noctis and his friends to stay back. All they would have done was get in the way as Crownsguard poured out of the first and third cars in quick succession and converged alongside the medics on the second. Clarus Amicitia emerged first. A bandage stained with the reddish-brown of dried blood was wrapped around his left arm from elbow to shoulder but he acted like he had no injuries at all. He waved away the medics and reminded them the king was their priority.

Prompto whispered a question to Ignis too quietly for Noctis to catch. When a bunch of guards and medics were swarming over a vehicle the king was not getting out of, there were only so many topics of conversation to be had. Finally, the medics pulled Noctis’s father out, handling his unconscious form with as much care as they could muster in the tight space. They laid him down on the stretcher they’d brought with them, delicately fastening him in with the restraints. Noct thought they’d rush him up to the Citadel’s infirmary. They stood back and waited instead.

“My prince,” Clarus said, “if you would take the Ring.”

“What? Now?” Noct stuttered out.

Cor moved behind him and put a hand at Noctis’s back, either to reassure him or push him forward. “That’s why I brought you here.”

“You’ll be fine,” Ignis said. “And so will your father. Removing the Ring will help speed his recovery.”

Right, because it would be draining Noctis instead of his dad. Apparently step two was telling the panicky voice screaming in his head to shut up and put on the Ring already. Everybody here believed in him. He should agree with them, though burning to death would be a hell of an ‘I told you so’.

Noctis walked on shaky legs to the stretcher. He braced himself for being shocked to see his father in such a weakened state but really, Regis just looked...normal. His breathing was the slow, steady breaths of deep sleep; his expression was vaguely peaceful. 

_This is no big deal_ , Noctis told himself. Sliding the Ring off his father’s finger wasn’t. He thought there’d be some kind of _something_ to mark the transfer of power. He got nothing but an expectant nod from Clarus.

Step three: putting the freakin’ thing on.

Step four: trying really hard not to scream when a flare of ancient magic sent a spike of pain up your arm and into your body. 

Step five: screaming anyway because, holy fuck, it hurt and Cor said the pain was normal and he deserved an earful for not giving a head’s up before Noct put it on and fiery fun time began.

Step six: panting like you’ve sprinted a marathon once the pain receded and listening to Prompto repeat ‘you’re good,buddy, you got this’ while stroking your hair like you’re a particularly cute cat. 

_Woo, I’m worthy_. Noctis still wasn’t entirely convinced. He was wearing the Ring; he hadn’t done anything with it yet. He’d seen his dad raise the wall sans crippling pain but he could have been used to it or really good at hiding it. Regis never let much slip around Noct.

Transfer complete, the medics wheeled Regis away. The Crownsguard went with them, lingering only long enough for Clarus to nod at Gladio and to tell Cor he knew what to do next. Noct figured they were headed to the Crystal. He’d talk to it or something and then, bam, there’d be a big magic wall over Insomnia. His dad had told him the talking part wasn’t actually necessary, it was to help with getting focused.

Help. Yeah, Noct was going to have to read a whole damn manuscript to the thing.

Thankfully, the Ring behaved itself on the way to the Crystal’s chamber. It didn’t react to being near the Crystal either. Noct was starting to think maybe step seven wouldn’t be a shit show.

Cor had faith. “You’ve seen Regis do this. You don’t need to do anything fancy. Put it up, everybody sees it shimmer and knows Insomnia’s protected. That’s all we need from you until your father’s back up to speed.”

“What if the Nifs attack while he’s in stasis?” Noctis asked. He didn’t think Cor would answer with ‘then we’re totally fucked’ but then again, the marshal was pretty to the point.

“Look, they caught your father out in a remote territory either by pure luck or...nevermind. They’d never be able to stage an attack on Insomnia the Glaives couldn’t handle without us getting advanced notice. You don’t have to worry about it.”

There, Noctis didn’t have to worry about it. He was going to, but it wouldn’t be necessary. What a relief. The ‘or’ that Cor quickly dropped wasn’t a big confidence booster either.

Ultimately, there was nothing left to do but to do it. His first request to the Crystal ought to be a tad more formal than ‘uh, so like, can I have a wall?’. Ignis would know what to say. He’d have a whole speech with a bunch of fancy words and old-timey pronouncements. He’d raise his hands up, project his voice. The Crystal would be like ‘damn, why aren’t you the crown prince instead?’. 

Cor coughed softly. _Nothing fancy. He said nothing fancy_ , Noct reminded himself. _Just give me a wall, Crystal. I can’t let everybody down. What do you need? O, Crystal, I beseech thee?_

He was thinking how stupid he would sound saying that aloud when he realized he didn’t have to. There was a pulse of power from the Crystal, a pang of pain from his ring finger that quickly passed and then Cor was getting notice over his headset that the wall was good to go.

“You did good,” he told Noctis. His was the first in a round of congratulatory back pats. Gladio’s smack was hard enough that Noct almost did a header into the Crystal. 

“Huh,” Gladio said. “I thought the Ring would have made you less of a wuss.”

“Pick on him later,” Cor chided. “For now, you all should get some sleep.”

Noct shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” No way, no how.

Prompto immediately volunteered to stay up with him, followed by Gladio who offered to continue movie night. Ignis had a different plan.

“I think Noct would be more comfortable in his own apartment. We could take shifts staying up with him. Prompto, you go first. I’ll go next. That will give me time to check in on the king and then Gladio last so he can have time with his father.”

That sounded good to Noct. His sofa sounded like a real nice place to be right now and Prompto would keep him from staring at the walls in the existential horror of contemplating his father’s mortality and calculating the sheer weight of protecting and ruling a country of millions that had fallen upon his shoulders.

Maybe they’d play that new cart racer he got last week.

***

They arrived at Noct’s apartment loaded up with six packs of energy drinks and a box of donuts. If stress didn’t keep Noct awake, the caffeine and sugar would. He flopped onto his sofa and sprawled out.

“Want your favorite blanket?” Prompto asked.

“I don’t have a favorite blanket.”

“Yeah, you do. That fluffy blue one. You always scrunch up your nose and get all snitty when somebody else takes it. Gladio takes it on purpose to see if you’ll finally say something.”

“Nice to know you guys talk about me behind my back.”

“Hey, I defend you! That blanket is totally the snuggliest. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your taste in music either.”

“Does Ignis complain about my eating habits and Gladio go on about me being lazy?”

“Dude, they do that to your face.”

Noctis sat up enough to grab a donut then sank back into the cushions. When his friends were right, they were right.

A nummy donut and a comfy blanket went a long way to settle nerves. Guzzling a can of a green neon colored drink that advertised hours of energy on the side kind of canceled that out but he didn’t want to get too cozy. The Six knew what strange ass dreams would come to him in what he knew could only be a fitful sleep.

Prompto chugged his own can while going through the shelf of games and movies under Noct’s TV. Nothing piqued his interest so they settled on reruns of a sitcom they’d seen a half million times already. It meant he could shut his brain off.

Or try to. Halfway through the show, Noctis noticed Prompto casting glances over at his hand that was hanging off the sofa. Well, the Ring on the hand. Noct had been looking at it too, thinking about vampires and walls.

“You want to look at it?” Noct finally asked. “I’m not moving so you’ll have to come over here.”

“You can’t take it off? Like at all? You got to shower with it?”

“Thanks, now I’m picturing my dad showering.”

“Using the official royal loofah, no doubt.”

“Dude, seriously, lay off the paternal shower imagery.”

Prompto laughed and got out of his chair to sit on the floor in front of Noctis. He held up his own hand like he wanted to touch the Ring but was too scared to. “Does it hurt? It looked like it hurt bad when you put it on.”

“Eh, just magical fire searing into me body and soul. No biggie. It’s being pretty chill now though.” He was playing it far cooler than he’d felt. It helped that Prompto was his only friend that genuinely thought he was cool.

Prompto gave the Ring an experimental poke. When it didn’t incinerate his finger, he moved in closer to give it a good once over. “It is a badass looking ring. Makes you look tough.”

Noct could hear the echoes of Gladio’s snickering in the back of his head. “I guess. I mean if you’re going to make a piece of jewelry containing the essence of dead kings, you kind of have to go gothic.”

“Yeah, but it’s like thousands of years old. What if your great times a hundred grandfather had really bad taste and picked some fugly design?”

“Like mixing plaid with animal prints?”

“Hah, hah. Like what if he’d wanted some big honkin’ pimp ring with lots of jewels and a behemoth head?”

“One, Bahamut gave the first king the Ring so Bahamut would have to be the one with the pimp taste-”

“He does go pretty heavy on the swords and deluxe armor.”

Noctis thought about the depictions of the Draconian he’d seen. Prompto wasn’t wrong. “Okay, yeah, but two, I don’t think that would have fit on my finger.”

“How _is_ it fitting on your finger? Is a consistent ring size a family trait like the armiger? You’d think you’d get a couple of chubby fingers or some skinny ones in there.”

Noctis had never considered that. “Some of the kings were women. And the statue of the Tall makes him look like a hefty chonk. I guess part of the magic is automatic ring resizing.”

“That’s what all the burning is. The souls of the Kings of Yore working their mojo so it doesn’t pop off at the beach and you gotta crawl all over the sand looking for it.”

That was a better mental picture than the whole shower thing. “I’m supposed to be able to summon the spirits of the old kings to help me. Get all one hundred twelve of them out there searching with me.”

“They’d have big mystical metal detectors and they would start beeping and they’d get all excited and then be all ‘shit, it’s another bottle cap’.”

Prompto conjured up a bunch of things for the Lucii to find on the beach, some of them gross, all of them stupid, and Noct added a couple of his own. Somewhere along the line, they returned to the topic of Bahamut’s fashion choices and were trying to outdo each other in coming up with the worst alternate design for the Ring they could think off when Ignis arrived for his shift.

He let them chatter while tidying up donut remains and tossing empty cans into the bin for recycling. Ignis usually mumbled sharp comments about cleanliness while doing that kind of stuff. He worked in silence tonight. 

Noctis swore he even caught a sly grin while Prompto was describing a glittering monstrosity of gold plated swords encircling the fingers and capped by a large base with the initials LC spelled out in rhinestones. “You wear across it across two, maybe three, fingers,” Prompto declared. “Like brass knuckles.”

Noctis gave him the win.

***

Naturally, Ignis had a briefing all ready to go. Even with the threat of a long recitation of official royal business looming, Prompto decided to hang around instead of going home. He claimed it was because he didn’t want to drive this late and the overstuffed chair he had nestled into was comfier than his own bed anyway. Neither Noct nor Ignis pushed back on the flimsy excuses.

Noctis’s father was fine. Ignis rattled off statistics on previous Lucian kings that had gone into stasis, including the causes and durations. The list wasn’t too huge considering the two thousand year span but the positive projections Ignis drew from it felt legit. Ignis wasn’t much of a sugarcoater and he never went into outright bullshit to spare Noct. That was kind of the opposite of his job description. So if he was saying a day, two at the most, Noctis was going to go with that.

“So we might be doing this again tomorrow,” Prompto asked.

“Not necessarily. Even the king isn’t awake yet, the Ring could be transferred back. It was done in the first place as a security measure and a show of power. It did speed his recovery, but he can recover with it on.”

“As fast as he would if I keep wearing it?”

“Unlikely…”

“Then I’m keeping it on until he asks for it himself.”

“That’s your choice,” Ignis said. He gave Noctis a curt nod, which was as close as he was going to get to saying that it was the responsible future leader choice, a.k.a. the right choice. 

“Well, whatever. Movie night ended up TBC. We can try again tomorrow.” Prompto checked the time on his phone. ”Or later today. It would give Gladio a chance to pick out a non-sucky movie.” 

For all his cheerfulness and insistence on being there for Noct, it became clear when Ignis moved on to discussing the incident that had precipitated this whole mess and Prompto answered with increasingly louder yawns that he wasn’t up for an all-nighter. Details about other areas of unrest were accompanied by a light snore. 

Noctis stretched out a leg to nudge Prompto awake with his foot. “Go sleep in my room.”

“Nah, just let me mainline some coffee like Iggy does and I’ll be good.”

“Noctis has enough on his mind without having to deal with the horrors of you being simultaneously over-tired and hyper-caffeinated,” Ignis said.

“You just don’t wanna share your coffee.”

“That too.”

Ignis shooed him off towards Noct’s bedroom and Prompto shuffled away, each heavy step marked with whining. They were both hamming it up for Noctis’s benefit and he was happy to let them. The sitcoms had given way to infomercials and since Noct had no interest in a space age liquid rubber, he could use the entertainment. Although, gluing together a bunch of crap to make a raft was the kind of brainless project he and Prompto could kill a weekend with. For a mishmash of rubber bin lids, the thing on the TV was floating pretty good. It would be useful for fishing.

“You’re on a budget,” Ignis, always reading his mind, admonished. “A part of adulthood is evading the siren call of crap sold on television.”

“I make my own money,” Noctis answered. “And you never know when you need to patch a crack in your gutters. A part of adulthood is being prepared.”

“I’ve taught you so well.” 

Ignis sat heavily in the chair next to the couch, stretching as he did. It was the only sign of tiredness he’d give Noctis and if asked, Ignis would swear he was fine along with an explanation as to why. Ignis had been born prepared.

His own refusal to acknowledge any problems didn’t stop Ignis from pressing Noct on how he was feeling. Noct didn’t bother lying. He swore Ignis had some kind of psychic lie detector that picked up the tiniest amount of bullshit. “Tired but I know the second I go to bed, I’ll either spend the night staring at the ceiling thinking about my dad or I’ll have stupid nightmares about the Ring eating me or something.”

“Some anxiety is to be expected. The Ring is a heavy burden and it was sprung on you rather abruptly.”

Good old, Ignis. He didn’t sugarcoat situations, but he handled Noctis with some super soft and fluffy kid gloves. It could be both annoying and a relief. Tonight, Noct took it for a challenge. He could be responsible and not reach out to an operator standing by to buy a miracle of modern bonding science. He could man up about his duties. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve only known since I was a little kid that I’d have to wear it someday.” 

“Someday is a vague time table.”

“Especially when you’re not paying attention to anything. There’s a war going on and I’m shocked that there are people in Lucis that don’t like that. I thought we were doing okay and Nifs are randomly showing up and nearly getting my dad. I’m not stupid. I was there when Tenebrae fell. But all this...it came out of nowhere to me.”

“To everyone. There’s quite the meeting going on between Cor, Dratus and Gladio’s father right now. If they were caught off guard, don’t blame yourself for being similarly surprised.”

“Awesome. Three of the biggest badasses in Lucis didn’t see it coming. Comforting for my own shortcomings. Kind of horrifying for what it means safety wise.”

“As formidable as that lot is,” Ignis said, “no one can be prepared for everything.”

“Except you.” Noctis couldn’t think of a time when Ignis wasn’t there for him. Even tonight, he’d had a plan of action. Ignis had been running around behind the scenes getting information while Noct had sat on his butt watching TV and redesigning the Ring with Prompto. Which, it sunk in, was a very deliberately frivolous part of a ‘keep Noctis preoccupied so he doesn’t freak out’ plan. “Did you tell Prompto to be extra goofy tonight?”

“No, he does that naturally. I did figure he’d do all he could to keep your spirits high. And before you use that as proof that I am prepared for everything, there’s a difference between keeping a calm head and reacting logically and readying for every foreseeable outcome. It’s impossible to do the latter, for instance.”

Noctis sensed this was part of his coddling. Can’t let the prince feel too bad for being oblivious. It was the advisor’s job to know everything anyway. Yesterday, Noct would have nodded along with that. Yesterday, Noct didn’t have an artifact brimming with power and the hefty legacy of his ancestors sitting on his finger. Today, he had to do better. “I should know the basics, at least. Like, how much are the Nifs attacking us? How are the people dealing with that?”

“Citizens of Insomnia in general enjoy the luxury of being untouched by the war. Part of it is deliberate coordination with the media to keep morale high. Another is taking the wall and Insomnia’s position for granted.”

Excuses, excuses. Noct had a few more. They were too deep into whatever video game they were playing. They had a test to study for and there was only so much braining they could do in a night. Or, considering Noct’s previous response to political talk was to yawn, say ‘sure, Specs, whatever’ and tune it out, maybe they were a touch on the spoiled doofus side.

“Hey, completely honest opinion time, Ignis,” Noct began, “do you think I’m a bit, uh-”

“Feckless?”

“Wow, you came up with that word quick.”

“A reflection of my vocabulary, not my opinion of you.”

“Uh, huh, it was just waiting on the tip of your tongue, like your word of the day and you were like ‘yes! I get to use it!’. Come on, Specs, level with me.”

Ignis looked like an anak in the headlights while he sought an appropriate answer. _Great, Specs at a loss for words. That’s super promising_.

“You have some tendencies towards...preoccupation with activities of lesser substance.”

“Damn, you had a whole week of words of the day you wanted to set loose.”

Ignis rocked forward in his chair and put his hands on his knees. This was serious business time. “Noct, we all have our faults. Whatever yours are, they were not present when you put on that ring. They are not here now as you ask me for an assessment you’ve clearly been doing already since you found yourself wanting. The feckless don’t care, Noct. Of all the things that can be said of you, not caring will never be one of them.”

Noctis would have wiggled his way under couch cushions if he could. Getting praise was something he liked in theory more than practice. Ignis was being so damn sincere, too. “Yeah, well,” Noct coughed, “what if I told you I’m still thinking about getting that rubber junk?”

“I’m thinking that in the time it would take you to get out your phone and your credit card, I would be over on the couch slapping both out of your hands.”

That was about right. Ignis would never let him do anything too stupid. And maybe if he listened to him more, Noct wouldn’t get to the point where he needed inspirational speeches and credit card slapping.

They went back to watching TV, the liquid rubber giving way to a non-stick wonder pan that promised to never scratch. “Oh, look at that,” Ignis said with an alarming level of enthrallment, “he burnt that cheese to a crisp and it slid right out.”

Noct chucked a pillow at him. “I can slap too, you know.”

***

Gladio showed up around four in the morning, right around the time Noctis and Ignis were trying to set a new speed record on chugging a can of coffee. He took one look at the both of them and declared they should at least try to go to bed.

“I’ll tuck you in if I have to,” he said.

Noct, giddy from the lack from the lack of sleep, began giggling at the thought.

“Makin’ my case for me.”

Ignis was in full agreement. He announced he’d be shambling back to his own apartment and promised to return when it was properly morning. That left Noctis to face the full force of Gladio’s persistence.

“You have to kick Prompto out of my bed first,” Noct said when Gladio threatened to pick him up and carry him like a baby into his room.

“No problem, he’s lighter than you.”

“Look, if one of us can actually sleep, let ‘em, okay?” Noct punctuated that with a short yawn followed by a long one. 

“You know you don’t need to be awake to keep the wall up, right? Insomnia’s the name of the city, not part of the job description. The more tired you are, the harder it is to do anything.”

That had the rumblings of a start of a lecture. Noct cut it off by delivering it before Gladio could. “Yeah, yeah, healthy body, diet, exercise, sleep, blah, blah, blah. Maybe you could have Specs yell something about veggies up from the street.”

“Or maybe you could get over whatever’s bugging you and get some sleep.”

Noct wondered if this was part of Ignis’s strategy. Prompto to calm him down, Ignis to build him up, Gladio to come in and level with him. “I know how my mind works. I try to shut it down and it’ll just go into overdrive and if I do drift off, I’ll have some stupid nightmare about the Ring trying to eat me while a crowd of Lucians cheer it on.”

“Damn, I should get Iggy. That sounds like a lot to unpack.”

“Please don’t take me lying on a couch as a sign that you should psychoanalyze me.”

“Please don’t take my job as your Shield as a sign that I won’t kick your ass when you need it.”

Oh, yay, a new can of worms opened and all on the floor. It was something Noct never spent much time thinking on, purposefully. It seemed like, in these circumstances, he should. “Does it ever freak you out, the whole Shield thing?”

Most Lucian kings had died of, well, not exactly natural causes given the Ring deal, but they went out peacefully enough. The ones that had been brought down in battle watched their Shields go first. His dad dying probably meant Gladio’s dad going too. Then that would get to repeat with him and Gladio.

Gladio shrugged. “It was how I was raised. The job’s an honor, something to be real proud of.”

“Yeah, but there’s the whole dying for another person thing.”

“Not like it’s the only dangerous job out there. And if the person’s worth it, there are worse ways to go.”

The worthiness question again. Noct looked at the Ring that had vouched for him. Gladio’s opinion meant more to him. “So there’s an assassin lurking in my apartment...You, uh...”

“I roll for my perception check?”

They never should have let Prompto talk them into playing D&D. Noct swallowed and asked him straight out. “Am I worth it?”

Gladio almost went with the sarcastic answer. He switched mid-word to seriousness when he saw how much Noct wanted to hear this. “Yeah, you got a good heart. Head’s a little suspect, but yeah, I’d say so.” 

Second big compliment of the night. Noct was about to blush himself to death. “So uh, how is your old man doing?” Noct asked to change the subject.

“Stubborn as you. Cor kept telling him to go home but he said he wouldn’t budge until they got that ambush sorted. So I played dirty and called my mom and then she played extra dirty by putting Iris on the line. She’s a terrible actress but you try to get through hearing a girl crying ‘Daddy, I’m so worried about you’ over and over again without breaking.”

“Your family is very coordinated.”

“Hell, yeah. Amicitias - give us a mission and we get it done. Speaking of which, that blankie looks awful loose. It’s practically begging to be tucked around the nearest baby.”

“Wah.”

“Ever heard of swaddling? Did it for Iris when she was a baby. Wrap you up tight like a burrito prince so you can’t give me any crap.” 

Resistance wouldn’t only be futile, it would be totally sad. Tired, little Noctis versus Gladio the somewhat rested tree. To spare himself the embarrassment or suffer a little less of it, Noct brought the blanket up to his chin and stuck out his tongue.

“Real mature, my prince. You know how I tell you always need to push yourself? There are smart ways to do that and dumb ways to do that. Staying up when you’re dead tired - dumb. Trying to get the rest you need despite being anxious - smart.”

“You know the kind of nightmares I have,” Noctis said quietly. He’d only told Ignis about them at first. The Marilith rising from the earth and the sounds of the screams, screeching of rent metal and wet tearing of bodies that came after. Luna, resolute as she let go of his father’s hand and the soldiers swarmed around her. Those dreams were scarcer now as he got further away from the events that spawned them, but the memory of his body shaking and coated in a cold sweat were right there waiting for him to recall. Sharing with Gladio and Prompto had lessened the impact yet here they were, his dad getting attacked and a burn-happy magic ring all set to come up with something new and awful.

“I know,” Gladio answered, more gently than he’d said anything tonight. “They’re brutal but you’ve gotten through all of them. Don’t assume you can’t handle something then not bother trying. I’m sure all kinds of weird crap runs through that aforementioned suspect head of yours. Don’t add shit that doesn’t need to be there.”

Put like that, Noct had a hard time coming up with a counter. They were talking about sleep. He wasn’t a little kid afraid a daemon was hiding under the bed anymore. The worst case scenario sucked; it wasn’t the end of the world. What was a little night terror to the crown prince of Lucis and current bearer of the Ring?

Bottom line, Gladio was right. He had handled it before. He could do it again. Bottomer line, he was getting more and more tired while Gladio was on the first leg of his lecture tour. In a war of wills, Noct had zero chance.

Bottomest line, he wasn’t at war. Gladio was on his side, like all of his friends. Gladio would hover over him to make sure he did go to sleep and then stay there watching him in case it wasn’t peaceful. Prompto was in the bedroom and would be up like a shot. Ignis would break land speed records to get here if he heard about a peep of trouble, assuming he had actually gone home instead of stealthily setting up camp right outside the door. 

“Fine,” Noct relented. “But if I pee the bed in fear, you gotta clean up the consequences.”

“Yeah, I’d leave that for Iggy. You want me to make you some warm milk for beddy bye?”

“Isn’t that kind of tempting the whole bed wetting fate?”

“Point. How ‘bout I read you a story?”

“From one of those long ass books you’re always reading? Yeah, that would put me to sleep.”

“Don’t knock my literacy because you think reading a menu is hard work.”

Though it dropped his comfy pillow count to zero because he’d been too lazy to get up and retrieve the pillow he’d thrown at Ignis, Noct found the energy to send one soaring at Gladio’s head. It flopped down at his feet, a good foot short of its target.

“That’s just sad, man,” Gladio said. “If you hadn’t already given in-”

“Weren’t you supposed to be telling me a story? How about the real origin of that stupid bowl Prompto chipped.”

Gladio laughed. “You didn’t buy that tale of heroism and gratitude? Okay, once upon a time, my dad and mom got married and my aunt Lily, renowned across Insomnia for her awful taste, gave them a fugly bowl as a wedding present. Since throwing in the trash would create ‘a thing’ with her sister, my mom banished it to a guest room then brought it out to the rec room with the hope her rowdy kids would ‘accidentally’ break it.”

“So she’s not going to be mad at Prompto?”

“Are you kidding? She’ll kiss him full on the lips then direct him to the next piece of crap to demolish.”

“Friend on mom action. Hot.” That snark got him his pillow back, though Gladio threw it with a hell of a lot more accuracy and force than Noct had managed. He wedged the pillow behind his stinging head. “Tell me more about the tacky treasures of House Amicitia.”

There were many and all were bizarre. Somewhere around a moogle toilet brush holder, Gladio’s words began to blur. Noct had a fleeting thought of ‘the caffeine failed me’ and he drifted off, the worst thing to come to him in his dreams a set of coeurl figurines wearing clown hats.

***

Noctis woke to the smell of bacon and pancakes. He had a crick in his neck from sleeping on the couch but otherwise he was good. Hungry too. He checked the time on his phone and it was past noon. So not only had he made a huge deal out of nothing, he’d actually gotten a good rest.

“Our princes awakens,” Ignis announced to Gladio and Prompto. They were gathered around the kitchen counter, Gladio making a massive dent in the pancake pile and Prompto moaning about delicious carbs. Noct gladly took the single pancake Ignis offered him. Stuffing his face was a good alternative to sheepishly copping to how silly he’d been last night.

His friends turned out not to care. Ignis asked him in a whisper if he was all right, then gave an okay sign to the others after Noct nodded that he was.

“Glad to hear it,” Ignis said. “And you’ll be glad to know your father is still fine. We’ve kept the news of his condition out of the media and there’ve been no reports of Nif activity in Lucis. You should have an easy day ahead of you.”

“Not too easy,” Gladio added. “We have a training session today. Don’t think I’m gonna let up on you.”

“When have you ever?” Noct mumbled through a mouth full of pancake. Ignis gave him a disapproving mother hen tsk. Bad manners and he was spitting crumbs all over the couch. Least he could do was finish eating and get to the apology.

“Um, guys?” His friends all turned to watch him, Ignis concerned, Prompto smiling, and Gladio expectantly. 

“Thanks for sticking with me last night even though I was being kinda paranoid.”

“Dude, you don’t have to explain anxiety to me,” Prompto said. “I mean, if I had to wear that creepy thing, I would have shit my pants.”

“Delightful imagery for breakfast.” Despite his complaining, Ignis asked Noct if he was ready for the main course, perhaps with some milk to wash it down. 

He was being babied, which he normally disliked, and Gladio was shaking his head over it, but Noctis wanted to indulge Ignis. He owed his friends gratitude. Plus, he wanted more pancakes.

He could drag his ass to the counter. Gladio and Prompto scooched over to make room for him. His effort was rewarded with a big stack drowning in syrup. Ignis had crumbled the bacon into pieces and stirred it into the syrup, Noct’s preferred method for consuming a million calories for breakfast. 

Prompto eyed the mess with jealousy and a bit of drool on his bottom lip. “Yeah, I should go on my daily run ‘cause I’m about ten seconds away from going Cookie Monster on that plate.”

“I can make more. I brought plenty of ingredients,” Ignis, evil tempter of decadent food, said.

Prompto whined, scooped up a finger full of bacon syrup and slowly licked it off with a look of bliss upon his face.

“You and that plate need some alone time?” Gladio asked.

“Better than him making out with your mom.”

Neither Ignis nor Prompto wanted to know what brought that comment on. Noct wouldn’t betray Gladio’s trust by sharing the secret of the broken bowl, not without draining it dry of teasing material first.

“It’s nothing,” Noct said. “A joke from last night. I was getting pretty loopy at the end there and coming up with a bunch of weird stuff.”

“I dunno, Gladio’s mom is kinda hot. And with my skills with the ladies, I could see how the topic could come up.”

Gladio side-eyed Prompto then shook his head. “Now who’s loopy?” 

“You’re all ridiculous,” was Ignis’s opinion. It was hard to argue with him.

The four of them made their way through the pancake mountain, talking about nothing in particular. The latest raid in King’s Knight, the concert coming up next weekend, some boring show based on a boring book that Gladio and Ignis were into and Prompto and Noctis only watched to make fun of.

Breakfast devoured, stomachs bloated, Gladio decided they needed to work it off and told everybody to get ready for the gym.

“This is going to be the most pathetic training session ever,” Prompto sighed.

That was probably true, Noct thought. They’d slog through it though, alternating between bagging on each other and cheerleading. A regular, nothing day in other words.

 _A good day_.


End file.
